This invention relates to a method and system for providing personalized messages over an Internet call waiting system.
A growing number of businesses, homes, and schools make use of the Internet through a variety of personal and business computing systems. In a typical home setting, an Internet user goes on-line via her home computer over a telephone line connected to her home. If the user has a standard analog telephone line, for example, non-digital subscriber line, non-T1, etc., that is used for both voice telephone calls and Internet service, the user ties up the telephone line anytime the user is connected to the Internet. Likewise, if the user is using the telephone line for voice telephone calls, the user may not use the same line to connect to the Internet. If the user is on the Internet via the telephone line, and the user receives a voice telephone call, the calling party either receives a busy signal or is forwarded to another telephone number, such as the called party""s voice mail service, through a call forwarding service. In order to avoid this problem, the user may subscribe to a separate phone line for use exclusively for Internet connection. Likewise, the user may subscribe to a digital subscriber line or T1 line over which the user may send and receive both Internet connectivity and voice telephone connectivity simultaneously. However, such solutions are expensive, and often, digital subscriber lines and T1 lines are not available at the user""s home.
Internet call waiting systems have been used that notify a called party of an incoming voice telephone call when the called party is engaged in an Internet session. Such systems allow the called party to answer the telephone call and thereby disconnect the.Internet session or forward the calling party to a different telephone number. However, such systems fail to allow the called party to interact with the calling party while maintaining the Internet connection.
Still other systems have been used for allowing a text-to-speech message to be sent to a calling party after a calling party is directed to the called party""s voice mail system. Unfortunately, such systems do not allow real-time interaction between the called party and the calling party while the call is in progress so that called party may be connected to the calling party at the conclusion of the called party""s Internet session.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present invention has been made.
In accordance with the present invention, the above and other problems are solved by a method and system for delivering personalized messages to a calling party who calls a called party who is engaged in an Internet session over a telephone line not capable of receiving telephone calls without interrupting the Internet connection. The called party receives a notification on her computer screen of an incoming telephone call from a calling party. A drop box on the called party""s computer temporarily interrupts the called party and identifies the calling party. The called party may answer the call, forward the call to a separate telephone number, place the call on hold, send the call to voice mail, or type, select or record a personalized message that is delivered to the calling party without interrupting the Internet session. The personalized message may be a text message or a voice message.
Text messages are converted from text to speech before delivery to the calling party. If the calling party terminates the call attempt prior to hearing the message, the calling party is contacted for delivery of the message. If the calling party is not reached after a number of attempts, the called party is notified on her computer screen, without interrupting her Internet session, that the message to the calling party was not delivered.
According to another aspect, the called party may request the calling party to be placed on hold after hearing the personalized message. At the expiration of the hold time, the called party may terminate the Internet session and automatically connect to the calling party.
These and other features and advantages, which characterize the present invention, will be apparent from a reading of the following detailed description and a review of the associated drawings. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.